When I work with companies on innovation projects, whether it's new products and services that change the industry or smaller-scale ideas to streamline internal processes, I often see leaders and their teams that struggle to idealize freely and really dive into the brainstorming process. When they finally get there, it's a great moment, but it takes a while.
The reason is simple:when ideation isn't second nature, it's because the culture of the company did not support it. It's understandable. In today's fast-paced marketplace, there's hardly time to breathe, let alone innovative brainstorming sessions and brainstorming about the future of the industry, company, or department. Most businesses still survive on the original idea that inspired their startup, and employees spend most of their time meeting deadlines for the day and putting out fires. In most organizations, there is simply no time or value set aside for freedom of thought and finding better ways of doing things.
Related: 5 Tips to Inspire an Innovative Mindset
Many of the companies I work with have spent so much time working on day-to-day operations that futuristic thinking can be an alien concept. It's the old adage to spend so much time working in the business that there is no time to work on business.
We all know that businesses need new ideas to innovate and stay ahead of the competition. All you have to do is look at organizations like Intuit, Amazon, Netflix, Airbnb and many more. These are companies that are always looking to the next trend, following customer guidelines and bravely defying the status quo, even when the status quo is the foundation of their business.
Each of these organizations excels in innovation because it has created cultures that celebrate ideation in general. It's not just six guys in a room that are throwing all the ideas. Instead, innovative thinking permeates all departments and levels of employees.
Here are 10 things effective leaders in innovative companies do to encourage ideas. And these are all things any leader can replicate.
1. Make room.
Leaders who value progress give employees the space, time, and opportunity to dream and ideate. They carve out a sacred time that is not trampled on by other initiatives and deadlines. It can be a regular lunch, a weekly brainstorming session where out-of-the-box concepts are explored, or scheduled personal time to brainstorm and imagine solutions to everyday problems.
2. Compensate for ideas and find problems.
They create a reward system, whether financial or verbal, to identify problems and opportunities, and generate ideas to address them. Ideas are the currency of innovation and growth cannot happen without them. These leaders know their teams can be a source of endless ideas if given the right incentives.
3. Be clear.
They clearly understand the problem or opportunity that requires ideation. They give their teams a well-defined purpose and create a sense of urgency behind it. Putting pressure on teams is necessary for innovation. Otherwise, there is no reason for dynamism or efficiency.
4. Be the solution.
Progressive leaders ask employees to be the solution. Note that I didn't say Be part of the solution . They must be the solution. When the assumption is that the manager will facilitate the solution, it is no longer up to the team to do so. Innovative leaders immerse their teams in the problem so they can feel its impact and ask the team to find a way out.
5. Test to learn.
They continually measure and test new ideas. But here's the difference:they evaluate ideas based on tests to learn and tests to pass, versus tests to fail or tests to try. They use this series of testing and validation techniques for all ideas to ensure maximum return on ideas.
Related: How to innovate to succeed
6. Ignore roles and titles.
They pay attention to individual ideas because all ideas are important. It may be the intern who sees the problem or opportunity from a new perspective and comes up with the million dollar idea. Good leaders don't write people off because of their role in the company. They are looking for ideas from all corners.
7. Focus on the customers.
Leaders who want innovation are obsessed with understanding the customer – their sensitivities, preferences, and desires. Innovative leaders understand that they don't have a business if they don't have customers. They monitor customer interaction, sales and retention. They use this data to cultivate what the customer wants or will want in the future.
8. Think ahead.
They always look ahead and imagine what their industry and business will look like in one year, five years, and 10 years from now. They use their contextual knowledge of their customers, market trends, studies and projections to imagine what customers will do in the future. And they teach futuristic thinking skills to their teams.
9. Cross pollination.
They encourage the co-creation of ideas and encourage their employees to look outside their teams, outside the company and outside the industry for ideas that have worked elsewhere. They invite team members to work on solutions together, outlining the what, how, and when of their ideas. This allows their teams to develop ideas more fully, or come up with ideas they may not have discovered on their own.
10. Reward success.
The reward for success is greater than the cost of failure. Their team members are willing to try an idea because if the idea succeeds, the company does better. No one is called a failure if an idea doesn't work or achieve different results than expected. In fact, what is emphasized is a maximum return to learning, whatever the results. The cost of not trying outweighs the cost of long-term learning.
Developing a culture of innovation is a powerful employee engagement tool. It gives them skin in the game, and they feel more and more valued, knowing that their opinions, ideas, and contributions matter. Frequent new ideas and identification of opportunities and problems can invigorate the workplace, as teams begin to invest in what the future might offer, creating innovation both small and large.
Related: What the future of innovation holds for entrepreneurs
